I'm looking at changing the combat for Epoch University, it's simply not what I had envisioned it as. Can anyone think of a game that grasps the old-school RPG feel, where you enter a battle and it's just you and them, attacking, defending, healing, until one side dies?

My idea is as such: The monsters would be on the board, moving around. You are also there, trying to complete objectives. As you move, you can engage a monster, which puts you against it on a side. Other players and other monsters can join in, but if you're in the battle you can't be completing objectives, so all players in the same battle won't be viable unless it's a boss. Anyway, it would be like a hand builder game, instead of a deck builder game. You'd go through the game searching for more cards to put into your hand that could be played during battle. Each battle would consist of up to 5 rounds, you retain damage over battles and it's tracked, but if the enemy escapes the battle alive they retain full health.

Each character would have a certain "skill deck," and from that deck they would gain their actions. They would gain "experience" from participating in battles, perhaps each monster killed would give a certain amount of experience, and that would be split up between the number of characters in there, with any odd rounding numbers going to the person who last killed the monster. So if a monster gave 3 experience total and two people were fighting it, the person who last hit it would get 2, a supporting would get 1. Another possibility is deteriorating experience based on number in the battle. So grouping into battles would make you level more slowly.

Each card could only be played once per battle, and monsters would have certain resistances based upon a card dealt from the monster deck. For example, you battle a melee monster. You put the monster token and yourself off to side, ready to battle it. You then flip up a monster card, which will give you any special attributes it has, such as stab immunity or crush immunity (stab or crush attacks won't work, respectively). You would then battle it, with access to your entire "hand" (actions you can take) and only being able to play each of them once. You'd probably start with (just spitting things out) 2 basic attack cards, 2 block cards, a couple of heals, and a character specific skill or two. Each time you leveled up, you'd be able to take a basic action and a special action. The basic action would come from a community pool, so if you take an attack card now, maybe someone who needs it later won't get one. The special action would come from a deck specific to your character. Each level would take more experience (this part is sounding a lot like Mage Knight, which I don't see as a bad thing, I love that game).

An additional note on the monsters cards: They could be specific to each boss monster. So if you're against, say, the Big Bad Wolf, the monster deck consists of fewer defensive cards and more offensive cards.

The Monsters would move around the board using a simple algorithm that I've already developed in my previous combat system. The monsters would be able to be avoided, but at a cost. Not only would you lose out on that experience, if you let them get too far, they'll enter and ransack a building, closing it for the rest of the game.

Additionally, players could acquire items. Using the items makes them go away forever. They'd be like powerful (or just versatile) one-time-use skills acquired from the board during the non-battle phases. Perhaps some sort of loot die can be added to the game that would make winning battles be able to give you a chance at loot.

The game culminates with a huge boss battle, and I think the boss would either have a specific die for what it does, or have a deck. A die would be more random and uncountable, so I would lean towards that.

Please share any thoughts, or things you'd like to see even if you don't have a mechanic for how they'll work on board game format.

EDIT: Each "monster" on the board can represent a pack of monsters, say 3. So when you engage a monster on the board, you go to the side and battle 3 monsters.

Currently nothing out there really captures the full elements of a JRPG in its most classic sense. There is though Console from ages past which was a PNP RPG meant to create the same feel.

Dragon Storm has a few elements. It just lacks dungeons and indoor areas to encounter. And I'd have had that covered had things not gone badly with the publisher. Story driven Co-op vs a GM.

Another one is RuinsWorld which has some dungeons to explore as well as alot of overland. Mostly random Co-op vs game.

There are others out there with an allmost feel. But to date only the two above have come close. And both bridge the RPG/Board game gap.

With its newest expansion Mice and Mystics is starting to get something of a small scale feel of a JRPG. VERY story driven co-op vs game. With more expansions it may drift closer.

Elements of a JRPG:Overland travel: A-LOT of overland travel.3 vs 3 combat: Usually you have 1-3 characters vs 1-3 monsters. Sometimes 4 vs 4.Long convoluted story: Really long, usually really convoluted. Possibly with side quests.Caves, Dungeons and Structure travel: Classic dungeoncrawler stuff, but never limited to just a dungeon.Lots of characters and/or classes: Originally very straightforward one character representing one class each. Later starting to experiment with class trees and freeforms.

Usually present also are tons of equipment and monsters. Equipment is often class restricted. Each area tends to have a "Boss" at the end to confront. Sometimes needing to deal with lieutenants first after weeding out the minions.

Encounters may be either very scripted, or very random. Overland tends to be where the very random occurs.

As for replayability. MM has the exact same replayability of all JRPGs. You can replay just because you like the story, to do better, or to try and complete every side quest.

AH, though lacks the overall feel of a JRPG. Though you could likely retheme it and get alot closer.

It will certainly have a new, quirky, fun theme. Involving college students, fairy tales, time travel and a mechsuit, all the good stuff. Essentially the story will be driven by the following:

Each "day" there will be a date card flipped up, that will describe the activities of the day, as well as the horrors that will happen that night. Perhaps it's the day of a football game, and that night there's going to be monsters that are pestering the fans.

Additionally, after you've set your class schedule at the beginning of the game, you go to class each day. At each class, you draw a class card based on the building your in, which will give you either a task to complete or a choice to make in return for equipment or experience.

On top of all that, for anyone who really wants to get into the game, I'm writing a novel for NaNoWriMo under the same theme. I'm a very descriptive writer, so people will be able to get a good grasp of what things look like for a mental image by reading the book.

Here's a summary of what I think makes a good JRPG, and how I'm adapting that to the board game:

Many Character choices-Traditional JRPGs often have many characters, where you select 3-4 of them and play with your choices, leaving the others behind. The starting edition of the game will have 6 characters, and that is an easily expandable number through expansions. Each character looks, feels, and plays very differently.

Leveling system-As we all know, this is one of the cores of the JRPG. In this game, experience will be gained by killing monsters. On level up, a stat increase card will be taken, a basic skill will be taken, and a character specific skill will be taken. This both increases your options in battle and your effectiveness in battle.

Turn based combat:-The engaging party (player or monster) will attack first, followed by the second. Simple minions will only attack, while mini-bosses and bosses will have dice to determine their action. After the engaging party attacks, the other party will attack. This will continue until the engaging party has had 5 turns. (The passive party only gets 4).

Story line-The story of this game has the opportunity to be rich and dynamic. There will be many different paths the game can take in each play through, and making the game feel like it really is a bit of a desperate struggle, while still having the light-hearted atmosphere through art and humor, is important to. It won't be able to have as heavy of a story as Mice and Mystics, but it will also be ever-changing, a pro to go with the con.

Side quests/options-Each event card a player draws will provide them with a choice, task, or sacrifice to make in return for items, experience, or buffs. This will add the occasional splitting into side tasks in order to prepare for the final battle. Additionally, there will be an alternate winning condition. If you can fix the time machine before you have to defeat the boss, you can win that way.

Strong finish-The game will culminate with a well known boss monster, such as the Big Bad Wolf or Mother Gothel. These will be very tough battles, and the players will certainly need all they've gathered to defeat them.

items/equipment-Items and equipment will be gathered in two ways-- equipment from the encounters you have not during battle, and items from looting monsters (this takes an action, and your reward is determined by a die).